City locked horns with the Baggies at the Hawthorns on Wednesday in the third round of the domestic cup competition. The visitors took the lead in less that 20 minutes, thanks to a goal from Brazilian striker Jo.

But the home side came from behind to score twice in the second half, as goals from Gianni Zuiverloon and Simon Cox ensured victory and progression into the next round of the competition.

Now Mancini maintains that he had no option but to field an under-strength line-up on the day, as they have a Premier League clash against Chelsea on Saturday.

"I don't regret making the changes," he told reporters. "I have big problems at the moment and we couldn't take any risks.

"If I had more players available it would be a different team.

"But when you play like us and Chelsea, on Saturday at 12.45, the time to recover is very short.

"They would need minimum three days so to play tonight would have been dangerous."

It is now 36-years since City won any silverware, and a path into the next round could have been secured if the former Inter boss had fielded a full strength line-up.

But the Italian said: "Saturday is more important, the FA Cup is more important. The Europa League is more important.

"I did not regard this as a necessary sacrifice. We wanted to win. That is why I had four senior players on the bench.

"But I knew there was a chance we could lose because we started with six young players.

"I am happy with these guys. We might have lost the game but they can improve. If they do not play tonight, when will they ever play?"

Our provides the best breaking news online and our football fan community is unmatched worldwide. Never miss a thing again!